Sitting down: ah ha ha, and you can't even see our encampment because it was behind me: we have a picnic shelter (the pop-up kind, not the kind that needs stakes and ropes) and so do our good friends (the ones with the Cape Cod beach house), so every year, we set them up where a side-street comes into the main drag, and have chairs and a cooler with drinks and snacks. Of course, we were all rather damp this time: the rain was pouring down between the two shelters, although the Mr. tried to position a tarp over the gap.

The Zydeco Cowboyz and Cowgirlz are a group of horse enthusiasts of color. This time around, their non-riding auxiliaries were stomping and dancing the Wobble along ahead of the horses. If you look carefully behind the horses, you can see one member dutifully following with a pan and broom and garbage can on wheels.

Haha. I was expecting they'd cancel the fireworks here (Catonsville) as it was literally pouring so hard you could barely see two feet in front of you; even my kid decided she didn't want to go because it was too gross out a couple of hours before it began. But they held them anyway.

Yes, we did, although we started out rather damp! A friend had brought her toddler twins (by Metro, in a big double stroller), and I was really worried that she was going to regret the whole thing, but once the parade started, the kidlets were absolutely entranced.